A Maple Leafs team lacking experience, yet high on adrenalin, seven members playing their first game, four in NHL debuts, took the powerful Tampa Bay Lightning to the wire before losing 2-1 on Monday night at the Air Canada Centre.

William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen and Zach Hyman each supplied individual thrills for the home crowd, then started the third period together, the full Marlies monty. Nylander almost scored early, Kapanen late during 6-on-5 play. Nikita Soshnikov, the fourth NHL newbie, had some good rushes, too, while Connor Carrick showed some gumption on defence and fought J.T. Brown at the end.

“They brought a lot of energy,” said Leo Komarov, a veteran who survived the NHL trade deadline earlier in the day. “Things are going to be better here. These are young kids, you never know if they’re going to play or not. That’s up to the coach.”

Babcock was duly impressed.

“They’re good, fast and hard on the puck,” he noted. “(Tampa Bay) played last night, so we had to keep it in perspective, but I was impressed. Kapanen has breakaway speed, Willy has skill, Hyman is a relentless worker who can still make plays, Soshnikov was good both ways and Carrick had some grease to him.”

Forwards Brooks Laich and Ben Smith were also in their first games with the Leafs, but it was a 15-save effort from Garret Sparks in the first period that kept Toronto in it. The exuberance and inexperience of first-round picks Nylander and Kapanen led to giveaways, though Sparks, in his first start since a Dec. 17 lower-body injury ended his promising rookie run, bailed both out.

Nylander said he was a little rattled to line up against Steve Stamkos on the draw, but made enough ice to dazzle new teammates and the crowd. The home side cheered the Swede’s name and the Toronto-born Hyman when the starting five were introduced.

“That was pretty crazy,” Nylander said. “I had no expectations of that.”

Nylander was thrilled to get a chance at tying the game with Sparks pulled, after Nazem Kadri tied it with 2:15 to play during a 6-on-5.

“It shows (Babcock) wants to give us a chance and let us do what we’ve been doing with the Marlies,” Nylander said. “It makes it easier coming in with the same (Marlie) faces in the locker room. That makes a smooth transition. But the guys here are nice and want to see you get better.”

Certainly the older players on the bench were looking out for Hyman’s welfare when he came through the neutral zone with his head down and huge Victor Hedman lined him up for a body check. The collective warning yell could be heard around the building.

“That was nice, I didn’t want to get hit by him,” Hyman said.

He also heard other voices in the crowd, many friends and relatives who managed to get tickets and cheered him in warmup. But he wasn’t distracted, sticking to business and drawing a penalty.

“That’s definitely a big part of my game, going to the corners, getting the puck and taking it to the net,” said the rookie pro, a grad of the University of Michigan.

Kapanen just missed a tap-in during the first period. Nylander fired wide on one of the few odd-man rushes the disciplined Bolts allowed.

“It was just everything I dreamed of, but I should’ve scored in the third when I dangled a little bit,” Kapanen said. “I felt good, but there are obviously things I need to be better at, so Mike puts me on the ice a little more and trusts me.

“That felt pretty weird (starting the third), playing the same line in the AHL and all of a sudden we’re in a different league. At the same time it’s pretty cool.”

All were wearing new digits.

“No. 37 is not my favourite, but I’m not going to complain,” laughed Kapanen. “There was a lot of excitement today. I know everyone back home (watching on TV in the early morning in Finland) is proud of me, my dad (ex-NHLer Sami Kapanen), my mom and my siblings.”

Sparks was nothing short of brilliant in the opening 20 minutes, though the Lightning did hit the post three times. With Jonathan Bernier on the bench, Sparks’ diving paddle stop on Valtteri Filppula was the best of early stops. Sparks had held a .915 NHL save percentage when he was hurt and after starting the month with Orlando of the ECHL, he had a good run with the Marlies to earn promotion.

But Tyler Johnson wired a wrist shot over him to start the second period and though he recovered to stop a partial breakaway by Filppula, Johnson found a five-hole gap to trickle in another.

Everyone was in scramble mode around the Air Canada Centre in the morning, quite apart from the looming deadline in which the Leafs ultimately stood pat.

There were a lot of handshakes as six newcomers went through their paces at the skate, joined by Laich, who arrived with his gear from Washington in the afternoon. P.A. Parenteau, who thought he’d be gone participated in the morning drills and even had power play time, but was still a Leaf at 3 p.m. and ended up scratched.

The Leafs’ two pre-game fan videos had to be edited to reflect the loss of players such as James Reimer and Nick Spaling. Suddenly, there were a lot more shots of Morgan Rielly, who also took Roman Polak’s spot in the public service announcements about no smoking in the building.

Though the Lightning had played in Boston the night before, there was no let-up in their second-half surge to catch the state rival Panthers. A big part of that is some vintage Stamkos hockey. For weeks, with Tampa playing sub-par, this game was seen a watershed moment for him, with the belief his contract difficulties could spark a deadline trade, perhaps to his hometown team.

But the Bolts picked up their game and general manager Steve Yzerman took the air out of the speculation by decreeing his star would not be dealt at the deadline. The Leafs trade news in recent days ultimately made Stamkos’ visit a footnote. He came in with nine points in six games, but was blanked as well as getting schooled on faceoffs.

Maple Leafs call-ups impress in loss to Lightning

TORONTO — These are the kind of growing pains Mike Babcock can live with.

A Maple Leafs team lacking experience but high on adrenaline — seven of them playing their first game for the club, three in NHL debuts — took the powerful Tampa Bay Lightning to the wire on Monday before losing 2-1.

William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen and Zach Hyman each provided a thrill for the Air Canada Centre crowd before Nazem Kadri scored late with goalie Garret Sparks on the bench. Kapanen had a chance to tie in the wild final-minute 6-on-5.

Nylander, centring fellow Marlie Hyman and Michael Grabner to start the game, generated a scoring chance off the hop, while Kapanen just missed a tap-in during the opening period. Nylander fired wide on one of the few odd-man rushes the disciplined Bolts allowed.

Down two to start the third period, Babcock added Kapanen to Nylander’s line to make it an all-Marlies trio.